President Pranab Mukherjee’s first address to the country right after being administered the oath of office should dispel doubts on the count of impartiality
Since Pranab Mukherjee has come to the presidency straight from the Union Cabinet where he was its seniormost minister and bore such a high profile for trouble-shooting, there has been needless speculation whether he will be able to shed his party colours while discharging his duties as Rashtrapati.
Such guessing games are unfair to the man. In any case, President Mukherjee’s first address to the country right after being administered the oath of office on Wednesday should dispel doubts on the count of impartiality.
In an address that compels attention, in terms of the ideas accorded primacy as well as the quality of the composition, our 13th President underlined his commitment to rise above partisan and personal interests. Perhaps aware of some of the uncharitable things being said, the President made it a point to speak of preserving, protecting and defending the Constitution. “The principal responsibility of this office is to function as the guardian of our Constitution,” he observed.
Given our fragmented political space, Mr Mukherjee’s determination to play fair and stick to the Constitution is likely to be put to the test after the next Lok Sabha is constituted and there is a scramble for power among parties, none of which may have a majority. But it could come sooner if the Prime Minister wishes to go to the country before 2014 and any parties in the ruling alliance resist the move in the hope of forming an alternative dispensation within the existing parliament. The spirit of the Constitution, rather than the letter, and the President’s deep political experience will probably count for more in such circumstances than precedents which are varied.
In his inaugural address, the President showed awareness that India’s “tryst with destiny” that the first generation of stalwarts spoke of is yet to materialise as he spoke of the “fundamentals” on which a “modern nation is built”. He highlighted in this context that democracy or equal rights, secularism or equal freedom to all faiths, equality of every region and language, gender equality, and “perhaps the most important” — economic equality. Mr Mukherjee clearly appreciates some of the crucial struggles of our times have centred on these questions, and gave them due articulation, indicating areas of his concern.
Using strong words, the incoming President has called terrorism “the fourth world war”. This can conceivably provoke debate although India, more than any other nation, has suffered the consequence of relentless terrorist assaults for a quarter century. But the question likely to be raised is: In order to deal with terrorism, does the formulation seek to convey the urgency to embrace certain international equations that could have other over-arching connotations? Nevertheless, it was an address that should reassure the country.